I was given the opportunity to read Slippery Willie’s Stupid, Ugly Shoes – a book for kids teaching them about being different and what worrying about unimportant things can do to you.

Willie Wiggles has slippery feet and is required to wear special shoes to make sure he doesn’t slip around everywhere. Willie is so worried about how others will react to his special shoes he has a nightmare where everyone, everywhere makes fun of him. Willie wakes up to find that no one really minds his special shoes, and they even like him. Willie learns how it was his fear is what caused his bad dreams and really the little things don’t matter as much.

I read this book to my nephew and a couple of his friends, before the big Halloween party this past weekend. They enjoyed the story, but I think the promise of the upcoming candy over powered them. I found it a bit hard to keep their attention. The boys had some questions regarding the illustrations – and I had to point out the shoes.

Overall I thought the books was well written and a good story for school age children. If the children you are reading to are younger, they may not understand the pressure of worrying about what their friends thing feels like, and may not relate well to Willie. The illustrations are well drawn and help portray the mood of the story.

I do feel the book’s topic and language is more suited for older (school aged) kids as well – we don’t encourage the use of the word ‘Stupid” in our family, so when the story was read to younger kids we substituted the word “Silly”.

This book is a great way to tell your kids that some of their worries aren’t as big as they think. The book also includes some suggestions for your kids try, so they don’t worry so much about other people’s opinions in the future.

Slippery Willie Synopsis:Willie Wiggles hates his slippery feet. He just slips, slides and spins all over the place. But what he hates even more are the special shoes that have been made for him that will help him to walk just like all the other kids. Willie thinks that they are the “stupidest, ugliest shoes in the whole world.”

Discover how sometimes we worry about things about ourselves when actually there is nothing to worry about in the first place.